-- from Representative Men of Connecticut, 1861 to 1864, by W. F. Moore
"John Hooker of Hartford, Connecticut, ex-reporter of judicial decisions for the Supreme Court of the state, was born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1816. After receiving the usual preparatory education, Mr. Hooker entered Yale College and graduated in the class of 1837. Being of a legal turn of mind, he studied law at Yale Law School and was admitted to practice in the court of the state. His careful attention to the interest of his clients, combined with a thorough knowledge of Connecticut law, soon gained him an increasing list of patrons.
"In 1858 Mr. Hooker was appointed "Reporter of Judicial Decisions" for the Supreme Court of the state, and the responsive duties of this office proved to be his life's work. For 36 years he filled the position, retiring January 1, 1894, at the age of 78. The greater part of the extended series of Connecticut Law Reports was prepared and published by him, and the value of his painstaking work can hardly be overestimated. Not many of the lawyers who search through these dry legal columns ever think of the hand and brain that arranged them for convenient use and then handed them down to posterity.
"Mr. Hooker, in early manhood, was one of the leading antislavery men of the state, and when this cause had providentially reached a successful culmination, he afterwards espoused the cause of woman's suffrage. He investigated the phenomena of spiritualism, and after subjecting it to the most rigid tests became a believer in the reality of the communication from departed spirits. He was a member of the Congregational Church and served as deacon for the greater part of his life. In theological beliefs, he ranked with the most liberal of the progressive branch of that body of Christians.
"Mr. Hooker was married in 1841 to Isabella, daughter of Reverend Lyman Beecher and sister of the authoress Harriet Beecher Stowe. The golden wedding was appropriately celebrated in 1891."
